On March 27 of this year, DIME inaugurated Habesha Social Club: a new, safe, and inclusive space for the students from DIME’s Higher Education for Refugees programme and for the larger community of refugees in Mexico at our headquarters in Aguascalientes City. HSC was created primarily as a space where refugees and people in other contexts of mobility can bring to life their initiatives, including events, promotion of their small businesses, cultural and gastronomic activities, and everything in between that can help foster more welcoming communities in our city.

The opening of the Habesha Social Club was made possible through the generous support of the Irish Embassy in Mexico. On this occasion, we were delighted to welcome Ambassador Maeve Von Heynitz to our city and to enjoy an afternoon of discussions on the work of DIME, future plans and the continued fostering of friendly and mutually enriching relations between Ireland and Mexico.

The afternoon concluded with a concert by two talented students, one of whom is part of the Habesha Américas project, marking the first event of the Social Club and the anticipation of the coming years, in which Habesha Social Club aspires to welcome further initiatives from our students and the community at large.

DIME hopes to continue making more inclusive and intercultural spaces a reality for all members of our society, and we are grateful to all the participants who supported these aspirations with their assistance, such as representatives from the government of Aguascalientes, higher education institutions, the Council for Refugees in Mexico, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the civil society.